Antrodia cinnamomea is a native fungal species in Taiwan and growing inside the decayed heart-wood of Cinnamonum kanehirae that distributes in the mountains with 450 to 1500 meters above sea level in Taiwan. The current reports have suggested that Antrodia cinnamomea contains extremely high nutritional value resulted from various physiological properties of the containing bioactive components. Therefore, Antrodia cinnamomea is a precious fungal species with growing demand in the market. Furthermore, the major bioactive components in Antrodia cinnamomea include the polysaccharides, polyphenols and major indicative product, triterpene. Herein, the previous reports show that polysaccharides contain the functional properties in strengthening immunity and anti-cancer. In the organism, polyphenols play the role as reductant for anti-oxidation by removing the free radicals and inhibiting the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol. In addition, polyphenols are capable of suppressing tumor growth through inhibition of enzymes activities that are required for tumor growth. Furthermore, triterpene contain the functions in promoting cancer cell death, suppressing proliferation of hepatoma, participating the hepatic repair, strengthening hepatic functions, anti-inflammation, lowering blood lipid, reducing blood pressure, preventing apoplexy and modulating immunity. However, Antrodia cinnamomea is growing inside Cinnamonum kanehirae, which is a protected species with slowly growing rate. It is difficult to acquire enough amount of Antrodia cinnamomea from the native environment for the demand in the market. Therefore, the developing approaches to acquire more Antrodia cinnamomea and efficiently increase the amounts of bioactive components in Antrodia cinnamomea are important issues for the current biomedical industry.
In the practical culture methods, the acquired bioactive components from Antrodia cinnamomea are dependent on the conditions of culture methods. Recently, the common culture methods for Antrodia cinnamomea include liquid-state culture, solid-state culture and Basswood culture. In liquid-state culture method, Antrodia cinnamomea is cultured in the liquid-state medium with appropriate carbon/nitrogen ratio. Liquid-state culture method contains the advantages such as low cost and short culture time requirement that spends 7˜14 days for complete culture. However, the liquid-state culture method for Antrodia cinnamomea exhibits low concentration of triterpene which is different to that in wild Antrodia cinnamomea. 
In solid-state culture method, Antrodia cinnamomea is cultured on the solid-state culture medium that is composed of cereals and water. The Antrodia cinnamomea cultured by solid-state culture method contains higher concentration of triterpene through artificial regulations of temperature and humidity. However, solid-state culture method for Antrodia cinnamomea requires longer culture time that spends 3˜6 months. Furthermore, the manufactural quality is inconsistent due to different compositions of bioactive components in the Antrodia cinnamomea cultured on different solid-state medium. In addition, the triterpene produced in the cultured Antrodia cinnamomea cannot include all effective forms of triterpene in wild Antrodia cinnamomea. 
In Basswood culture, Antrodia cinnamomea cultured inside the trunk of Cinnamonum kanehirae bears the same components as that in the fruiting body of wild Antrodia cinnamomea. Assisting with modifications of culture conditions, Basswood culture is capable of providing the stable quality of fruiting body in Antrodia cinnamomea. However, it spends 1˜3 years to obtain the mature Antrodia cinnamomea by Basswood culture method. Furthermore, Cinnamonum kanehirae is a protective species that limits the source of culture medium base and makes it difficult in manufacture due to the expansive cost.
Currently, solid-state culture method is the most common culture method for Antrodia kanehirae to give consideration to production of bioactive components and manufacture cost. However, some defects still remain in the current culture technologies. For example, the separation of cultured Antrodia cinnamomea and the solid-state medium is difficult to be achieved. The products contaminated with some medium will limit the further applications of the cultured Antrodia cinnamomea. Furthermore, the fruiting body of the solid-state cultured Antrodia cinnamomea is thinner so it contains less bioactive components than the wild Antrodia cinnamomea. Furthermore, by modifications of the culture light in the liquid-state culture method, it will affect the amounts of the bioactive components in Antrodia cinnamomea. For example, while Antrodia cinnamomea is cultured under the blue light, it increases the amount of extracellular polysaccharides but not triterpene. In contrast, while Antrodia cinnamomea is cultured under the red light, it elevates the amounts of triterpene but not extracellular polysaccharides. Therefore, there is not ideal culture method for Antrodia cinnamomea to elevate the amounts of bioactive components with the acceptable cost.